War in Space May Be Closer Than Ever

scientificamerican.com ^ | August 10, 2015 | Lee Billings |

[varyouga]

That is only the final stage. Just prior to warhead separation, you have a fairly large spacecraft with glowing boosters to target.

And you’ll already be tracking it from the moment of ignition on the ground so there are several minutes to line up your shots.

[CodeToad]

Boost phase means being rather close to the launch source. Not so easy to do.

[CodeToad]

“The orbital phase makes ICBMs sitting ducks.”

Also there are decoys and countermeasures. LOTS of decoys and countermeasures. (prior life was space combat and those decoys and countermeasures)

[CodeToad]

“SM3 has whacked a bunch of satellites in orbit. “

A bunch? I think one so far and it was in a pretty low orbit.

[Steely Tom]

I thought it had been done more than once, but I’m not sure. You may be right.

[5th MEB]

A laser type weapon would not be all that effective against satellites, you have to have a hell of a lot of power and the capability to keep it focused and aimed for a pretty long time.
Kinetic weapons would be much more efficient, something like a space grenade.

[NorthMountain]

I often wonder what replaced the early ASAT weapons carried by F-15 and similar.

That ASAT missile was a test prototype and technology demonstrator, not a deployed system. A few years ago, US Navy shot down a malfunctioning satellite using a deployed SM-3 missile from a cruiser. I believe they made some minor software tweaks, to alter its range-gate.

[Covenantor]

Brilliant Peebles was the first of the kinetic space weapons programs as part of SDI.

[doorgunner69]

Yeah, the shoot down took place neat here.

Problem is a ship is darn near a fixed base, have to wait for that satellite to be in the right spot.

I would expect some of the high value satellites to have some maneuvering capability to avoid overflying known ASAT assets if the balloon goes up..

[doorgunner69]

I think one so far and it was in a pretty low orbit.

Correct, a decaying orbit at that. Rationale for zapping it was toxic fuel on board, but everyone knows that was a convenience.

[CodeToad]

“Brilliant Peebles was the first of the kinetic space weapons programs as part of SDI.”

But never launched. I was very disappointed by that. It was a good program. Unfortunately, it was superseded by a different program.

[Covenantor]

There was a fair amount published about Brilliant Pebbles in print media before the web. Lags in the flow of information were the state of affairs then. Guess I assumed the program went black as it developed and was implemented.

Damn but we spent so much time back then just track card indices, abstract compilations, ordering publications, and waiting for snail mail delivery. Yet we managed to produce some truly amazing things.